


And Baby Makes Three

by NerdyGrlWonder



Series: Tumblr Fic Prompts [3]
Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Baby, Birth, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Love, relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-01 06:16:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2762726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyGrlWonder/pseuds/NerdyGrlWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Tumblr prompt from tylerbabe1231. Ichabbie babies it is!</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt from tylerbabe1231. Ichabbie babies it is!

In all of his years, and there were admittedly more than two hundred of them, Ichabod didn’t think he’d ever felt so lost and as utterly helpless as he did at that very moment. Abbie was in pain and nothing that he could do would help her. What made it worse was that it was entirely his fault.

The evening had started innocuously enough. He’d been slaving away in the hot kitchen, just to make Abbie her current favorite dish: lasagna. Between the heat of the oven and the blistering heat wave that had hit Sleepy Hollow, it took every fan running in the cabin to keep him from passing out. Sweat poured off of him but he wouldn’t utter a solitary complaint. He was doing this for Abbie.

She was having a harder and harder time walking and breathing as the date of their daughter’s impending arrival drew near. Between being constantly uncomfortable, the heat wave, desk duty and witness duty, he didn’t know how she managed to function every day. She’d been craving lasagna on a near constant basis now and since she was blessing him with the gift of fatherhood, the least he could do was make her her favorite dish.

Abbie wasn’t due home for another hour or two so he took his time making sure everything was perfect. He was about to begin assembling the first layer when the door opened and in waddled Abbie. She glistened with sweat and her hair had frizzed in the humidity. Ichabod thought she looked every bit the angel that she was. Had he not begun to panic over her early arrival, he would have stared at her in a rapt state.

“Abbie, are you well? Is everything all right?” She made it from the door to the back of the couch before she leaned over the back, breathing deeply and rocking back and forth gently. She didn’t need to reply for Ichabod to know that a contraction had hit. Dropping everything he was doing, he rushed to her side. He wanted to touch her, to comfort her in some way but everything from their birthing classes was swept away from his mind.

“Oh my God! This is it isn’t it?” He flexed his hands trying to calm his breath but unsure where to begin. “Should I call the doctor? I should be timing the pains! Where is that bloody timer?” Ichabod was frantic, all sense seeming to leave him. Abbie felt the pain beginning to ebb in time for her to side eye him as he moved haphazardly through the living room. A smile brushed her full mouth as she shook her head at him. For all of his declarations of remaining calm and steadfast, at the first sign of her discomfort, he lost it.

“Crane, calm down. I’m alright.” He rushed over to her, grabbing her shoulders a bit more roughly than was his want. “You are far from alright! You’re in labor. We need to get you to the hospital immediately for your safety and that of our child.” Abbie saw so much raw fear in Ichabod’s eyes that she couldn’t be annoyed with him. He never had the chance to be a father. Katrina had kept the knowledge of her pregnancy from him and by the time he had risen from his centuries’ long slumber, his son Jeremy had long since pledged his life to Moloch. This was his first real chance at parenthood and he was determined – though maybe a bit too much – to be perfect.

Calmly, Abbie took his hands in hers, rubbing her thumbs along his knuckles. “Labor is a long process Ichabod and I’ve barely just begun contracting. Why don’t we sit down, have some dinner, and relax for as long as we can, okay?” She brushed a stray tear from his face with a smile. Those simple gestures were enough to settle his nerves some. It was small moments like those that reminded Ichabod how much he truly loved his petite lieutenant.

“Do I smell your special pasta sauce? Were you making me lasagna?” Her eyes got wide and her smile widened.

“I was going to. Are you sure you want to eat? Maybe you should lie down…”

“Ichabod, we will probably never have another meal in peace after tomorrow. Let’s just enjoy tonight. Stop worrying. Everything will be alright.” Abbie shooed Ichabod back into the kitchen and took a seat on the couch. He went about finishing the lasagna, always keeping one eye on the love of his life. Her strength and resolve only heightened her beauty. He would never cease falling in love with her over and over again. He marveled at how calm and serene she seemed, even when a contraction would hit her.

That had been earlier in the evening. Now, as the sun was on its slow assent into the sky, all had changed. Gone was the calm and serene Abbie, replaced instead by woman writhing and moaning in pain. The sweat that clung to her skin now was no longer attributed to the weather but to another force of nature: childbirth.

He sat by her vigilantly doing everything in his power to help her through. He whispered endearments in her ear, clutched her hand during each upsurge wave of agony; he rubbed her lower back, applying pressure to counteract each wave of pain. He fed her ice chips and constantly told her how beautiful she was, how she was the strongest person he knew and how much he loved her.

The sun was close to its zenith when they could both see the end in sight. Abbie had been in labor, without any modern medicinal pain aids for over nineteen hours; she’d been pushing for one. She tried to push each time the doctor told her but she didn’t have much left in the way of strength.

“I…can’t. I can’t do this anymore.” Tears were streaming down her face as she felt all of her resolve leaving her. She knew she needed to go on for their daughter, for herself and Ichabod, but she didn’t think she could. Ichabod pushed damp hair from her face and kissed her brow. Gently caressing her face, he forced her to look at him.

“From the moment I first laid eyes on, I have never known you to give up or back down from a challenge. You are the strongest person I know. You’re tenacious, smart and courageous and our daughter is bound to be as amazing as her mother. One more push, my love. One more and we’ll meet the very essence of both of us.” He placed a kiss on her head again, looked her in the eye and urged her on. “Push, Abbie!”

With tears streaming down her face and the last of the energy she could muster, Abbie brought their daughter into the world. The doctor placed the pink, wailing infant on her chest and Abbie was sure that she’d never felt love as intense or deep before in her life. Ichabod blinked through tears at the two most important women in his life in love and awe. “Welcome to the world Lori. We’ve been waiting for you.”

 


	2. ...Baby Makes the Perfect 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help but linger on what life would be like for Ichabbie after Lori was born. I just wanted to take a little peek and this is what I came up with. Now I'm all awash in feels again.

Abbie awoke to utter silence and light streaming in through the bedroom window. She’d overslept! Sitting up as quickly as her still healing body would let her, she turned to wake Ichabod but he wasn’t there. His side of the bed was still neatly made.

“Crane?”

There was no reply through the door of their room and when she glanced into the bassinet next to her, it lay bare. Throwing back the covers and trying not to panic, Abbie gingerly lifted herself from the bed and headed toward the living room. Though she’d had the baby three weeks ago, moving too quickly still tugged at places she’d rather not have disturbed.

“Crane?” she called again with still no response. There was no sign of either Ichabod or of Lori. Tension and fear threatened to devour her whole until she heard the tiniest coo coming from in front of the fireplace.

Moving quicker than was her body’s want, she stopped short when she reached the couch. The fear and panic that had plagued her was quickly replaced by an overwhelming sense of peace and contentment. She’d found both of her loves asleep on the couch. Lori lay cradled against a bare-chested Ichabod, her tiny fist curled around his finger and her pacifier bouncing as she suckled in her sleep.

Abbie wouldn’t have stopped the smile that spread across her face if she could as she took in the sight. As if he could sense her presence through his slumber and was compelled to mirror her, a smile spread across Ichabod’s face as well.

“We didn’t want to wake you Mommy.” He said the words barely above a whisper as he pried open his sleep laden eyes. Gently pushing the stray hairs that had fallen across his face behind his ear, Abbie leaned over and kissed him deeply. She then turned her attention to the princess in his arms, planting a light kiss on her mop of unruly dark brown curls. Lori stirred but didn’t wake.

There were no words to describe how much love she felt at that very moment. After all that they had been through during the seven years of Tribulation, she never thought she’d see the day that not only would she be alive and happy, but that this would be her life. Silently she thought to herself:

_If this is God’s gift for being a Witness, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat._


	3. Sick

“What does it say?” Ichabod called out loudly over Lori’s piercing screams. He held her chubby, wiggling form to his chest, cradling her curl filled head to his shoulder.

Abbie slowly blinked her eyes trying to focus on the tiny numbers at three in the morning.

“My God, Crane” Abbie shouted over their daughter’s cries, “She’s got a temp of one hundred one point five!”

Ichabod stalked over to where Abbie stood near the counter and read the face on the digital thermometer.

“What does that mean? Should we get her to the hospital?” Ichabod handed Lori over to Abbie and hastily started grabbing things. Flying around the nursery he shoved bottles, blankets and formula into their purple polka dot diaper bag.

Abbie bounced Lori up and down while rocking and shushing her. She pressed a kiss to her sweaty temple and she walked out of the room past Ichabod to grab her phone.

“Calm down, Crane.” Using one hand to support Lori and the other to dial the doctor’s office, she called over her shoulder back to Ichabod. “Let’s just call the doctor and see what she has to say.”

Ichabod eyed her warily but came over to grab Lori so that Abbie could hear herself speak. He took her back into her nursery and reached over the crib to grab her blanket and bottle. Settling himself in the green glider near the window, he hummed a tune that his mother used to hum to him when he was a child. 

He could hear Abbie’s voice carrying through the house and realized it was because Lori’s wails had ceased. He looked down to find her eyelids fluttering and her tiny, pouting mouth sucking an imaginary pacifier in her sleep. Her amber skin was still flushed from her fever, but at least Ichabod had gotten her calm enough to finally sleep.

“Dr. Oliver said to give her a quarter of a dose of infant’s Tylenol to lower the fever and then bring her in first thing tomorrow morning.” Abbie whispered as she walked into the nursery. She leaned tiredly against the doorframe and took in the scene before her.

Ichabod’s hair was disheveled. He’d pulled it back into a pony tail but wisps hung free around his face and shoulders. The loose grey Henley shirt that she’d gotten him to use years ago as a sleeping shirt was still tight enough to see his defined arm muscles beneath it. His dark green, plaid flannel pants were worn and had holes and baby vomit in them. He held their infant daughter, in his arms, gazing down at her sleeping form as if she was the most precious thing in the world. It made it hard for Abbie to breathe.

“I’m loathing to wake her. She just fell asleep.” Ichabod raised his head and saw the way that Abbie was looking at him. “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Abigail…?”

Abbie walked over to the changing table and pulled out the Tylenol. She measured out the appropriate dose and woke Lori enough for her to suck on the end of the syringe. Once it was empty and clear that Lori was indeed sound asleep, she took her from Ichabod’s arms and tucked her back into her crib, placing a gentle kiss on her head.

Abbie reached out her hand to Ichabod and helped him to his feet. Brushing her hands over his chest, she moved a hand behind his head and pulled him down into a long, deep kiss. His hands wound their way around her waist, pulling her close to him. When he pulled away, he could see a spark in Abbie’s eyes that hadn’t been there in months. He held his breath, daring not raising his hopes.

“Are you ready to go back to bed Mrs. Crane?”

“I’m ready to go back to bed Mr. Crane, but I have no interest in sleeping.”

“Abbie are you sure you’re up for this? It’s been a very long and trying day and I wouldn’t want…”

Abbie placed a single finger on Ichabod’s lips to stop him from talking. True, it had been ages since she felt remotely sexual. Between being huge and uncomfortable towards the end of her pregnancy and then exhausted trying to raise a newborn, sex was the last thing on her mind. That was quickly changing.

Now that for the most part, Lori slept through the night, and she was finally getting some rest herself. She missed Ichabod. She missed having him to herself and talking to him about something other than breast milk, doctor’s appointments and diaper rash. She loved being Abigail Mills, doting mother, but she missed being Abigail Mills the sexy woman and wife.

Sliding her finger from his lips down the center of his chest and torso to hook in the waistband of his pants, Abbie leaned into Ichabod’s mouth.

“With her being sick , Lord only knows how much time we have. Let’s not waste it with you asking countless unnecessary questions. Let’s spend it practicing for baby number two.”

Keeping her finger where it was, Abbie turned to head towards their bedroom, toting a stunned and compliant Ichabod behind her.


End file.
